The Hollywood Reporter breaks the news, saying that the actor “is pivotal in the franchise” but stopping short of saying whether he’d become the Goblin in the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man 2 or “in a sequel.” At the moment, the trade says the use of Cooper in the movie and his eventual transformation is “unclear.”

And that makes sense, seeing as how we need time to actually meet Norman, pairing him with Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) in a mentoring role before Webb pushes him into the Goblin role. All of that takes time, which builds on the theory we floated a while back that Webb and Sony are stockpiling massive talents for a much larger Spider-Man universe, and not just stunt casting for the short-term gain to possibly complete a trilogy. I’d expect Cooper to have a superficial role in the upcoming Spider-Man movie, playing father to Harry (Dane DeHaan) and possible mentor to Peter – though the first movie did hint to an illness in Norman that has to be addressed. But I’d be very surprised if we saw the Goblin, unless it was in the final frames of part two, setting up a third movie (and beyond).

For now, though, Webb has stacked his deck with an unbelievable cast. For a franchise that already hit the ground running with Sally Field and Martin Sheen as Aunt May and Uncle Ben, Spider-Man has added the likes of Jamie Foxx, Paul Giamatti, Cooper, DeHaan, Garfied, Shailene Woodley and Emma Stone. I’d pay huge sums to watch that cast read the Oogieloves screenplay. The fact that they are contributing to a series of Spider-Man movies is beyond icing on the cake.